2 militants killed in Ashkona raid
-- Major Jahid’s wife, daughter and 2 others surrender
-- Cop, 7yr-old child hurt in blast
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Two militants -- a woman and a teenager -- were killed in separate blasts during a police raid at a house in Ashkona of Dhaka’s Dakkhin Khan today.
Four people including wife and daughter of slain Neo JMB military commander Major (retd) Jahidul Islam surrendered to police during the anti-militant drive code-named ‘Ripple24’.
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Earlier, tipped-off, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) cordoned off the three-storey building named Surja Villa around 2:00am suspecting the militants’ presence there, said DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia.
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Around 9:45am, Jahid’s wife and three others surrendered to the police along with a pistol and several bullets when the law enforcers, using a loudspeaker, asked the militants to surrender, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of DMP media wing, told media.
Later around 12:30pm, a woman suddenly announced that she along with a four-year-old child was coming out of the house, said Sanwar Hossain, CTTC’s additional deputy commissioner.
But the law enforcers noticed that she tied a suicide vest containing grenade to her waist.
“She was requested not to come with the suicide vest. But, at one stage, she blew it off, leaving her dead on the spot and the child injured critically,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters after visiting the spot.
The child, who identified herself as Sabina, daughter of Iqbal and Sakira, was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with splinter wounds on her chest and hands. However, details about Iqbal and Sakira could not be known immediately.
Shafi Ahmed, an inspector of DMP bomb disposal team, also suffered injuries and was rushed to a hospital.
Sounds of several grenade explosions were heard in the areas around 2:00pm when the law enforcers including crime scene investigators and fire fighters were trying to enter the house in a bid to neutralise the remaining militants there.
Law enforcers retaliated with gun shots and tear gas shells targeting the house, Moniruzzaman, inspector of Dakkhin Khan Police Station, told The Daily Star.
The law enforcers then found the body of a teenager, wearing suicide vest, lying on the floor in the house, he said.
After visiting the spot, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan declared end of the anti-terror drive around 3:30pm.
The body was there till this evening as it could not to be recovered due to toxic gas inside the building, said DMP’s Masudur Rahman.
The body will be recovered tomorrow, he said.
Earlier in the day, the law enforcers were able to evacuate the other residents of the building.
Jahid’s wife, 3 others surrender
The wife of Jahid, who was killed in a raid in Mirpur's Rupnagar on September 2, was identified as Jebunnahar Shila.
A week after the Rupnagar raid, law enforcers conducted a raid at an Azimpur house but Shila managed to escape the drive.
The others who surrendered include absconding militant Musa’s wife Trisha and their daughter, police said.
They were taken to the headquarters of Detective Branch of police, a police official said.
Who was Jahid
According to the law enforcers, Jahid went into voluntary retirement in July last year as a major, and his LPR period ended in July this year. Jahid, 37, hailed from Comilla.
Jahid severed all communications with family members and relatives in April and got engaged in so-called jihad, said police.
He last visited his village home around eight months ago. He was little known to locals at West Chandpur as he rarely visited there and did not socialise with people much.
According to his three associates in Dhaka, Jahid got commissioned in 2000 after training under Bangladesh Military Academy's 43 Long Course.
The army authorities sent him to Canada for a course (2013-2014) at the junior staff college of Canadian Armed Forces, the acquaintances said.
On return from Canada in 2014, Jahid became interested in religious activities and started telling his friends that he would quit the army as “many things in the service contradict his ethics and religious beliefs,” they added.
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